We all want to be more productive at work, regardless of the field of activity or whether we work in the office or distant work. However, sometimes something goes wrong, time seems to slip out of hand. But there are still some tricks that can help you be more productive.

1. Follow your usual daily routine

People who demonstrate ultra-high productivity, as a rule, achieve this not through strong will, but through building a familiar daily routine.

The famous writer Stephen King takes a vitamin pill every day at 8 a.m., plays the same music, moves the same chair up to his desk, and starts working – whether he feels inspired or not. It is this ritual that allows the writer to “turn on” his imagination and find inspiration if he was not there in the morning.

Make a daily routine for yourself and stick to it. Remember, inspiration is not a random piece of luck, but a planned outcome.

2. Take advantage of people’s disapproval

A person has a desire to please others and avoid conflicts.

The very essence of high performance and outstanding craftsmanship implies that you must focus entirely on the action. This means that quite often you will have to ignore requests for urgent answers to emails, turn off your mobile phone and reject a bunch of social obligations that only distract you from work.

Of course, people will be angry with you for this. But the full realization of one’s own talents and skills is much more important than people’s disapproval. Moreover, you need it to improve your own skill.

3. Appreciate hardship and deprivation

In our society, everything that is disordered, uncomfortable, and troublesome is considered bad. Anything that is enjoyable and effortless is considered wonderful.

But the fact is that every outstanding master of his craft is doomed to hardships and hardships. And if you want to become the most productive in your field of activity, you need to come to terms with the fact that pain and suffering await you along the way.

During his lifetime, Van Gogh vegetated in complete obscurity, world fame came to him only after his death. But he continued to paint. Steve Jobs was widely regarded as an eccentric loser, but with the tenacity of a maniac, he achieved the unsurpassed quality of his products.

4. Do real work, not imitate it

Typically, people confuse activity with performance. Peter Drucker put it very aptly on this score: “There is nothing more senseless than effectively doing what you shouldn’t do at all.”

Checking your mail in the morning, rearranging papers, gathering meaningless meetings and running into bureaucracy instead of creating value? So you are just imitating work.

Just stop starting your day with pseudo work. Check your mail after lunch. Call by phone in the afternoon. And surf the Internet in the evenings.

5. Implement transformations gradually

Outstanding productivity gains cannot be achieved through a single revolutionary transformation. Quite the opposite: massive productivity gains are the result of subtle but daily victories. Five small steps forward every day – that’s 1,850 wins a year! Keep in mind that the things you do regularly are a hundred times more important than the things you do occasionally.

6. Remember that without refueling, high performance can lead to complete exhaustion

Try to drag a heavy load on yourself without a break – and soon, exhausted, you will be forced to stop. And if you take short breaks every now and then, you will end up covering a much greater distance than you ever imagined.

Try to work with maximum efficiency and focus for an hour and a half, then take a 10-minute break to rest, relax, and refuel. If you break your workday into such cycles, your energy and productivity will reach unprecedented heights.

7. Imitate Leaders

Recent scientific studies have found that it turns out to be easier to change a person’s thinking style using a certain pattern of behavior than to change his behavior using a certain way of thinking.

In other words, if in your actions you begin to imitate the most productive entrepreneur you know, then after a while your thinking will automatically “readjust” to high productivity.